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WGSS Scholarship Recipient Establishes Award

Anna Rigles is a senior Women's Studies major whose exceptional academic engagement earned her the Frances Lenore Jones Scholarship in 2011. A mother of twins, Anna has balanced family responsibilities and personal challenges with a commitment to feminist pedagogy and research. She has mentored students in multiple sections of Intro to Women's Studies and helped coordinate the WGSS Student Colloquium, where in 2011 she shared a presentation informed by her extensive background in dance (Anna and her partner own and run Portland's Classical Ballet Academy). This presentation evolved into "Classical Ballet: The Land that Feminism Forgot" which she presented later that year at the National Women's Studies Association conference in Atlanta.

Since then, Anna has endowed an award to help other students establish themselves as scholars. The Anna T. Rigles Travel Award will provide WGSS students with up to $500 of conference fees and travel-related expenses in order to attend or present at conference(s) related to the field of women, gender and sexuality studies. Application materials are available online on the WGSS scholarships page.

Anna intends to pursue graduate school after graduating from PSU with her double major in Women's Studies and History in June 2012: "I plan to eventually get my PhD in Women's Studies and return to Portland State to show these incredible women who inspired me how far I have come. I want to make them proud."